So, I got around to playing in the Preview Weekend. I didn't play much - no more than a total of 2.5 hours. I just didn't have the time. In that time, I did basic beginning level PvE, Public Quests, Scenario RvR, and extremely limited RvR (my computer couldn't handle it).
From what I experienced, I came to the conclusion that WAR is a really good game, but WoW is better. Everyone seems to want to compare the two games, so I will do so as well.
I realize that WAR is not yet complete - I mean, WAR is still in beta (okay, but yes, I guess it did go gold today) - and WoW is nearing it's 4th year anniversary. I didn't play for very long and even I was able to see that there is a lot missing in WAR. I know that WAR is not PvE centric, but I gotta tell ya, if Mythic doesn't add a few more PvE elements into the game, it simply won't be as successful as it could be. In my opinion, we are talking a possible 2 or 3 million subscribers if more solid PvE was introduced vs. 850,000 is the game stays the way it currently is.
The people that want a solely PvP MMO are deinitely the minority - and then there's the people that say they would love a solely PvP MMO before they go and finally play and run back to WoW like the carebears they are. It's just not realistic right now.
WAR at launch will NOT be AoC at launch. WAR is much more complete than AoC was at launch, but then again that's not saying a whole lot considering AoC is one of the least "complete" games I've ever seen at launch. The reality is that even after the months of delays, WAR is not as far along as it should be. I hate to go back to it, but maybe if Mythic had decided to push WAR back to 2009 we would not only have a more polished game with better PvE, but also the 4 capital cities and classes that were removed.
I'm not going to say that I completely regret pre-ordering the Collector's Edition just yet. I'm going to see what happens. I'll definitely subscribe for a month of WAR, and in that period I will make a decision - whether I will continue to play, or wait six months and come back. I really want WAR to be a sucess. Giving up after the first month of the game's release is not an option for me.
I'm not sure if I'm going to log into the open beta when Mythic opens that up on September 7th. We'll see what happens.
P.S. - The above picture is my rank 2 Warrior Priest exploring the zone. :D
-Matt Graham
15 comments:
Congratulations! You're now eligible to be a video game reviewer for some important websites! Well, on second thought, 2.5 hours might make you overqualified.
Seriously, I don't think that brief a foray into ANY MMO is the basis for a comparative review. Had you spent the weekend playing or if this were written at the end of open beta then I might take it a little more seriously. Or maybe you played WoW for 2.5 hours too? That would have made this a bit more valid.
I'm not saying you wouldn't have come to the same conclusion, just that I don't think you have a basis for your comments.
You said you havent played RvR and you review it. Sheesh.. :D
I'm going to agree with this story. WoW is more polished and, for some people, more enjoyable than WAR. I'm not going to delve into the excuses offered in defense of WAR. I think that for the forseeable future, WoW will be the gold standard for PvE games.
However, WoW will not be my game of choice after WAR is released. It's lost its sparkle for me due to too much repetition over the last two years. Additionally, PvP is far less balanced between classes in WoW than in WAR. I'm not saying whether it's a good thing or a bad thing, it just is.
I have to agree with the guy up above. I spent more than 36 hours playing over the weekend (if not more), and WoW is NOT a better game. Just for comparison, I already had my four year WoW anniversary.
I'm worried that you and I didn't play the same game, my man. I played several characters to just past lv10, and for each I did a lot of questing. There are quests everywhere...in fact I felt I couldn't possibly do all of the quests because RvR was quickly leveling me past their being useful.
What the game does seem to be lacking in are instances. I didn't see any, and from what I've heard/read the ones that are in are pretty boring (except the king encounters). If lack of instances is what's got you down, to that I can only recommend you hang tight...and get into some RvR, because it really is a lot of fun.
It's really hard to take you seriously on 2.5 hours of experience.
The WAR experience in the first 10 levels beats the living F*** out of WoW's first ten levels, hands down. You can PVP from the moment you get in the game, the leveling experience is much more varied and FUN than WoW, hands down.
People don't like PVE or PVP really. They like being on a team and getting things done together and having fun. One of the reasons people lean towards PVE in WoW is because its a much more complete experience than the gimped (and unpleasant if you are new to it) PVP of WoW. It doesn't necessarily have to be that way, and if people really enjoyed PVE for PVE's sake, I don't think old school RPG-style games wouldn't be a dead/dying genre. Or that people would keep trying to have fun with WoW's PVP system even though its clearly a pasted on afterthought. The reality is that the vast majority of WoW subscribers are not serious raiders; they play when they feel like, to hang out with friends and whatnot. WAR offers them a game where they don't have to chose between been blue geared gimps or giving up the rest of their RL to compete in game.
So... yeah. Guess we disagree.
Brian
WoW looks more polished? Are you sure? because it's absolutely stunning to me that a game that's been out for 4 years about to release it's 2nd expansion could possibly be more polished than a game in beta and 4 weeks away from release. Say it ain't so!
/sarcasm
I have read more than once that the writers for WoW had said that the story wasn't a big thing and that Warcraft had never had a story, so they had to make it up on the fly.
Meanwhile, the Warhammer Fantasy story goes back to the late 80s and is huge; spend an afternoon on Wikipedia reading it. =) I did feel that this was reflected in the quests, at least the human and elvish ones that I did.
To be honest, I wasn't really sold on WAR at first either... Which hurt because I had pre-ordered the CE. My first impressions were not so hot, didn't really enjoy the character selection... And what was that super-ghetto ballista shooter game? I was unconvinced...
However, after playing for a few hours, getting some abilities, and hitting some RvR, things turned around completely for me (despite the many bugs and terrible Mob AI, etc.). It's pretty much the only game I want to play right now. And I can't. Which sucks.
Anonymous: It is what it is. No excuses. If WAR will be more refined one day, then great. But it's not that way today, and I refuse to speculate.
No one is going to care about your opinion when you come out and say you only played 2.5 hours, let alone when you make a title like "WAR is good, WoW is better." Comparing two totally different games that are in totally different places in their life cycle.
Not to mention you can't begin to speak about WAR when you didn't even RvR...when rvr/pvp is like 80% of the game's basis. Level 1 pvp in WAR is light years better than ANYTHING WoW has ever done on the pvp side of their game. I knew within 2 minutes of my first rvr scenario that I had found probably the first game that I've played to do PvP right. It's almost as if I didn't even know what PvP should be like till i played WAR.
Matty! Seriously? :P
That wasn't a very fair review at all, mate. You could only play 2.5 hours because you didn't have time? Sounds like anything you did experience was rushed.
I can say from experience that this game is not nearly as PvE-focused as WoW, however, the PvE that is available, especially in the starting areas, is of the same quality or better than what you'd find in WoW imho.
You can't have gotten very far beyond the starting areas if you only put in 2.5 hours and if you were to put in the same amount of time on WoW, I can't see how you could possibly say WAR was worse than WoW.
At the higher levels, some people may really like 25-man instances that take many many hours to grind. If that's what you're looking for in a game, you might as well stick with WoW imho.
WAR PvE dungeons can be done with 6-man groups and follow a PQ format that others can join in with.
If the game didn't have the IT-Factor that drew you to it within the very short time you played it, that's all right, just say it. But to compare the two based on the very little experience you had is just bad imho. :P
I got my WP to lev 12, had completed 43 quests along with 3 PQs, and leveled to rank 9 via RvR. There is no way in hell you played WAR at all. 2.5 hours? Seriously, dont bother with a review at all. You said absolutely nothing relevant.
Sorry I'm late to the discussion here. On the one hand I applaud the guts you have to say that a game you played and blogged about for months is sub-par. Yeah, WAR will probably not be a better game for many who have played WOW.
On the other hand, I cannot help but to agree with what others have written here. Two and a-half hours is not nearly enough time to base an opinion on such a massive game.
It took me a few weeks to really get into wow. Hell, it took me a day just to figure out how to get my human to Stormwind!
There may be a ton of good PVE in WAR. But I don't think you really gave it a fair shot. I hope you play for a month and then give us an updated review. I hope your opinion changes.
I played wow for 2.5 hours and it sucked. all I could do is kill boars. if that is more polished, you must be polishing a turd. at least 2.5 hours into
War i was able to pvp, and do a couple pq's.
you fail. worst review ever.
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